Come home
Please take notice of the dates. The story will be easier to follow if you do.
8/5/98
Sarah sat down between Fiona and Tash. Sam was standing at the head of the table, opposite Chris. Greg was sitting opposite her, twiddling his thumbs.
"This," Sam began, pointing at the screen behind him, "is Atif Hakeem. Iraqui by birth, but Saudi raised. Intel from section C in Five suggests that – Fiona, are you still with us?" Fiona shook her head quickly.
"Sorry." Sam stared at her for a moment, then carried on.
"OK. Intel suggests that he may be smuggling weaponry back to his birth land."
"What kind of weaponry?" Chris asked.
"Artillery. Specifically Surface to Air Missiles."
"That's you, ain't it?" Tash asked, grinning. "SAMs." Sam frowned at her.
"Returning to the real world, obviously we don't missile systems falling in to Iraqui hands."
"What would you suggest?" Chris asked.
"Infiltrate, find out what's really going on there and, if we need to, shut him – Fiona?" She jerked herself upright again.
"Sorry."
"Are you OK?" Sam asked frowning.
"I'm fine. I just don't sleep well when Adam's..." Sam nodded.
"Fair enough."
"He's back tomorrow," Fiona continued, "so I'll be back to normal the day after."
"Yeah?" Tash raised her eyebrows. "You ain't gonna get no more sleep that night." Sarah kicked Tash under the table. Tash glowered at her.
"Sam, you were saying?" Chris interjected before Tash could retaliate. Sarah had already lifted her legs out of reached.
"Yeah, if we need to, we shut him down."
"Isn't it section E's job?"
"Not really. They came across him looking for someone else and flagged him up as a point of interest. And they're Five. You know what they're like about going abroad."
"Do we have a way to infiltrate?" Chris asked.
"Yes." Sam replied. "He's looking for a secretary. He works in an oil firm, apart from anything else, and he's looking for a secretary with good computer skills."
"So who do we send?" Chris asked the room at large.
"Jack and Adam aren't options." Sarah started, glancing up and down the table. "We can't – Fiona, are you sure you're OK?" Fiona was sitting with her neck arched forwards, head in hands, breathing hard. She stood up.
"Excuse me." She walked out quickly, almost ran. That was worrying. The five remaining people in the room looked at each other. Sam broke the silence.
"Sarah, could you go and see if she's OK?" Sarah nodded, getting up.
"If she's not?"
"Send her home." Chris provided. "She won't be much use to us if she gets any worse than this." Sarah nodded again and started walking out, after Fiona. "Shame." Chris continued. "I was going to send her to Arabia."
Sarah's first guess as to where Fiona was turned out to be right; the ladies' toilets. The sound of harsh coughing came from one of the cubicles. Sarah tapped on the door.
"Fiona?" It sounded as if she was spitting in to the toilet. "Fiona, are you OK?" Two more spits.
"Yes."
"You've just been sick, haven't you?" One more spit.
"Yes."
"OK. I'll get you some water." Sarah left, hearing Fiona's quiet thanks.
When she returned, Fiona was standing by the sink, washing her face. Sarah offered her the water.
"Thanks." Fiona's hands were shaking slightly as she started to rinse her mouth, but she seemed to be getting steadier.
"How do you feel? You don't feel faint or anything?" Fiona shook her head.
"I feel better for throwing up, strange as it sounds."
"How much better?"
"Quite a lot. Enough to go back to briefing in a few minutes." Sarah hesitated while Fiona drank before asking her next question.
"Fiona, are you... Are you pregnant?" Fiona just looked at her. "I don't mean to be nosy, but, you told me you and Adam were trying a while back, that was sickness, it's 9:30AM, so..."
"God, I hope I am." Fiona said quietly. She smiled nervously at Sarah, who smiled back.
"Are you overdue?" Fiona nodded.
"Two days."
"Have you tested?"
"No. I don't want to, not yet."
"Why not? It's a big thing."
"I don't want Adam to be the last one to know." Fiona said calmly. "It'd be his child too, and if I am, I want to celebrate it with him." There was a long silence. "Shall we go back to briefing?"